40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 115
CONTENTS
Monday, November 23, 2009
Conservative Government

Hon. Marlene Jennings (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, Lib.):

Madam Speaker, on September 14, 2009, I asked a supplementary question in this House directed at the Prime Minister, regarding a closed-door speech he had made and that had been recorded.

In the speech that the Prime Minister gave, he said that “judges are left-wing ideologues”; he also referred to women fighting for equality as “left-wing fringe groups”.

During question period, I said that women are not marginal left-wing groups, and that the judiciary and judicial discretion are very important.

The Prime Minister in that closed-door speech also made this point speaking about the Conservative Party, “If we do not win a majority this country will have a Liberal government propped up by the socialists and the separatists”.

This is another quote: “This country cannot afford a government like that. If they force us to the polls, if they get together and force us to the polls, we have to teach them a lesson”.

This is another quote: “Imagine how many left-wing idealogues they would be putting in the courts, federal institutions, agencies, the Senate. I should say, how many more, they would be putting in.”

This is another quote: “Instead of...subsidizing lawyers to bring forth court challenges by left-wing fringe groups, we have been bringing in laws...” and then he goes on to laud himself and his party.

These so-called fringe groups and left-wing idealogues are people who brought court challenges based on equality rights and language rights that are guaranteed under the Canadian Constitution. One has only to look at the issue of the Montfort Hospital.

Because of the court challenges program, which was abolished by the Conservative Prime Minister as one of his first actions after coming into power, the Montfort Hospital, here in Ontario, is still open.

If we look at the issue of women's equality rights, it is because there was a court challenges program that an ordinary female worker who is not unionized but who is suffering gender discrimination has been able to bring a pressing case before the courts and has been able to win on that. It is the same thing for the issue of gay and lesbian rights.

We see a government that closed 12 of the 16 Status of Women offices on April 1, 2006. There are only four regional offices now, rather than sixteen. We see a government that has abolished the court challenges program. Under pressure from ordinary Canadians, the Conservatives brought in some milquetoast program that is a faint shadow of the court challenges program.

I would challenge the Prime Minister and the Conservative government to cease and desist with their ideology, which they use to attack those who do not agree with them.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour, CPC):

Madam Speaker, in the initial question there was not a lot of substantive content and some of it was not in the appropriate context. In trying to make something out of nothing and taking a position without regard to the big picture in what we have done as a government there was a lot of bluster there. However, I would like to clarify some things.

Our Conservative government was elected after Canadians were fed up with 13 years of arrogance, a culture of entitlement, the Liberal government in it for itself, not listening to the Canadian people, nor addressing those needs that they wanted.

The Liberals had a remarkable disdain for Canadian sensibilities with their sponsorship scandal. I would point out that some of the moneys taken from Canadians who paid their taxes and used for purposes that Canadians would not approve of, have not yet been recovered

The Liberals were soft on crime and corruption, soft on ethics and respect for Canadians, but hard on law-abiding citizens and those Canadian men and women in the armed forces who needed more support, better equipment and more funding.

Canadians elected a Conservative government because they wanted to. They are happy and pleased with the actions we have taken. We have taken actions with respect to the economy with our economic action plan. Canadians support our actions to help unemployed workers. They support our efforts to help self-employed Canadians.

The Liberal members of her party walked away and turned their backs on unemployed Canadians and when we finally put forward legislation to help long tenured workers by extending benefits from five to twenty weeks, the Liberal members voted against that provision in order to force an election that no Canadian wanted. It is an election that no one wants. They wanted it for themselves and for their own benefit.

I wonder what they might say to the 190,000 Canadians. They voted against specific benefits in a narrow bill to help long tenured workers. I do not understand how they would do that.

Canadians support our stronger, more principled foreign policies. They support our efforts to properly fund and equip our men and women in uniform. They support our efforts to get tough on crime and criminals. They appreciate our respect for hard-working, law-abiding taxpayers.

The actions of the Liberal Party have fallen flat with Canadians. Canadians are aware that the Liberals want an election only because of their self-interest and not because of those regular Canadians who look forward to legislation being passed.

Canadians wanted the Liberal Party to work with our government to come up with solutions for the unemployed over the summer but that did not happen. Thankfully, we were able to get other members of the opposition to support that legislation so we could get it through.

We are putting forward legislation for the self-employed. I cannot imagine the Liberal Party voting for that as well. They are simply out of touch with Canadians and with what Canadians need.

Our Prime Minister and our Conservative government did not need to impose any sort of agenda on Canadians. Canadians support our Prime Minister and they support the direction we are taking. They support the goods things we are doing.

On this side of the House, we intend to continue to give Canadians good government that they can support. The evidence is there. They see that we are in favour of getting things done for everyday ordinary Canadians, the hard-working Canadians who pay their taxes and who expect their government to take their interest into account and not the government's own interest.

Hon. Marlene Jennings:

Madam Speaker, I wonder what the member has to say about his government attempting to cover up the allegations that Canadian soldiers handed over Afghan detainees to torture at the hands of the Afghan authorities.

We had testimony from a reputable diplomat who was promoted following his experience in Afghanistan. What we have had to listen to in the House for this past week and a half is the Minister of National Defence and his lackeys, and that is what I will call them, trying to smear that diplomat's credibility, reputation and intelligence. This is from a government that said that it would protect whistleblowers.

It now has a whistleblower on its hands and what is it doing? It is attacking that whistleblower. It is trying to smear his reputation and, in so doing, it is trying to intimidate other potential witnesses.

Mr. Ed Komarnicki:

Madam Speaker, that member certainly goes wherever she might want to. She strayed quite far from her original question, so it is difficult to respond. However, I will say this. We will stand behind the men and women of our Canadian armed forces whose job it is to protect us and our society as we know it.

Everyone knows that we are doing the right thing. We are doing what Canadians think is important. Canadians believe that our government is on the right track. They support our Prime Minister, our Conservative government and the direction we are taking. They do not support the Liberal agenda.

We are interested in an agenda that puts Canadians first, not the Liberal Party or Liberal members, but Canadians. Our agenda is responsible, principled, respectful of the hard work of Canadians and mindful of the proper place of government in their lives. We are working on things that matter to Canadians, such as getting tough on crime, a principled foreign policy.

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